


Turning Point

by Serenity_V



Series: An Acquired Taste [6]
Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Episode: s01e05 The Courier (No. 85), F/M, Humor, Smart Liz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 21:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6537313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenity_V/pseuds/Serenity_V
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In two blissfully uneventful – relatively, anyway – years of marriage, Jacob had almost forgotten that his wife couldn’t do anything normally. Lizzie’s first day as an FBI profiler? Shame on Jacob for not expecting the helicopter on their doorstep. He really should know better than this by now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wakeup Call

**Author's Note:**

> All dialogue in this chapter is taken from the Pilot episode.

Jacob could definitely think of better ways to be woken up than by a face full of dog. _Seriously, dude?_ He couldn’t, however, think of anything better to wake up to than Lizzie, really, truly still there. They’d been married for the past two years, and it was still a bit of a surprise to find her there beside him every morning.

The next seven minutes were a mad dash around the house, leaving him barely any time to think beyond _clothes-coffee-transportation,_ as the couple whirled around each other in a frantic sort of dance. As he called out to Liz in passing, reminding her of the adoption meeting set for that afternoon, a part of him paused to marvel that _this was his life_ now – that this was actually _happening,_ that he and Lizzie were going to have a _baby_ together – but, he pushed it to the back of his mind, focusing on getting out the door as quickly as humanly possible.

As Lizzie joined him outside, he couldn’t help but stare. Apparently, the limitations of what was ‘humanly possible’ didn’t apply to his wife. Jacob could get up, get things together, and get going in record time – it was sort of a necessity in his profession – but he did so on a very basic level of functionality, concerned only with the practical considerations of just what was absolutely necessary to get out and get the job done. Lizzie, though…

“What?” she asked.

“We both woke up seven minutes ago. I’m pretty sure my pants are on backwards and I can barely see straight. But you are somehow dressed, composed, and as beautiful as the day I met you.”

“I think I’m forgetting something.”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling out her badge. Well, no one was perfect.

But she was the closest to it he’d ever seen, he reflected as she reassured him that she wouldn’t let her job interfere with their family.  She meant it, but he could also see how excited she was; she’d worked hard for this, and he knew how much it meant to her.

“Man, I am so proud of you.” And, he was.

“Thanks.”

“You worked so hard for this. Are you nervous?”

“No,” she said, and he believed her, proud of her confidence and fortitude. “But I am very late.”

Then, it happened. Because, in two years of nuptial bliss, Jacob Phelps had forgotten one very important fact. Nothing in his life was normal, and that included Lizzie.

Of course, when the helicopter appeared overhead, he didn’t immediately assume that it had to do with them. The F.B.I. vans converging on their home were kind of hard to miss, though. The real kicker, though, was that Jacob truly didn’t know why they were there. Though, by the sheer magnitude of it all, he was able to draw one solid conclusion.

Whatever was going on, and however it involved Liz, it was Reddington’s fault.

The way the blond Fed demanded “Agent Keen” accompany him set off warning bells in Jacob’s mind. On the surface, the request was civil, but it carried an edge, sounding barely one step away from an arrest. The helicopter sent kind of a loud message.

“Babe,” Liz said, her tone even, “I don’t think I’m going to need to take the car.” She looked completely unruffled, handing him the keys as if none of this were out of the ordinary. He could see, of course, the tension in her posture, the concern in her eyes demonstrating that she knew exactly how serious the situation was, but her control was perfect, her mask flawless to most eyes.

As Jacob was left alone, standing on the doorstep in the wake of the furious nightmare that would soon become his wife’s life, he was forced to acknowledge that the dream he’d been living would soon come to an end. He’d managed to keep reality at bay for two wonderful years, but it was back and taking far too much pleasure in bursting his bubble. Things with Reddington were coming to a head, he was sure of it, and Lizzie would be right in the middle. The best Jacob could hope for as things spiraled out of control was that he’d somehow manage to keep her safe. And maybe, just maybe, that she wouldn’t hate him utterly when the dust settled.


	2. Things Fall Apart

Liz had been slightly _off_ since the Zamani incident – and, Jacob was still kicking himself over that one; Zamani had been careful, obviously knowing exactly with whom he was dealing, but there had to have been _something_ he could’ve done.

Lizzie could so easily have been hurt, and there would’ve been nothing he could’ve done. She was safe, but she _had_ been affected by it all. She hid it well, but she was tense, on edge. And, she was keeping him at arm’s length.

Well, hopefully, he could fix that, at least. It was “Movie Night,” and probably Lizzie’s first opportunity to relax and stop worrying about everything since it had all gone down. Definitely their first opportunity for some real down-time together. He knew she’d been through a lot lately, and what he knew wasn’t even the full story; Liz’s entire life was classified right now, and he was sure it had something to do with Reddington. That had to be taking a toll on her. Maybe this was what she needed to finally open up.

“So, what do you want to watch?”

“Uh, how about _not_ action?” he tried to joke. “I think I’ve had enough action for a while.”

“You have no idea,” she muttered with a strange look in her eyes. Jacob blinked at the tone of her voice. Her “I’m fine” façade was finally starting to slip, and he caught a glimpse of what she was really going through. He felt like a hypocrite every time he, of all people, gave her flak about keeping secrets, but if that was what it took for her to let him in and unload some of her baggage, he would do it. He would try patience first, though.

For now, all she seemed interested in discussing was movie options. They settled on _Secondhand Lions,_ and Jacob sat next to her on the couch to watch and wait.

About halfway through, she finally broke down, sobbing.

“Hey. Hey, it’s okay,” he said, holding her close. “You’ve been through a lot lately, this was a long time coming. You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

She snorted through her tears, “You mean, besides _everything?”_

Jacob just waited, and eventually, her tears subsiding, Liz pulled back to look at him as though searching for something. He couldn’t tell what, which unsettled him, and as something shifted in Lizzie’s eyes, indicating she’d made some sort of decision, he didn’t know whether she’d found it.

“I haven’t been able to tell you much, but you know I’ve had some… _really_ rough cases lately.” He nodded.

“That’s been part of it, and…There’s this C.I., who’s been…helping with these cases. He first…came forward about the Zamani case.” Jacob blinked. A _C.I.?_ There was _no way_ … He filed the information away for later consideration.

“Tom, I…I never told you what I did after you’d been attacked. It…wasn’t good.”

“What do you mean?” He knew it had shaken Liz, but he hadn’t put much thought into what she’d actually _done._ He’d assumed she’d just focused on tracking down Zamani. He remembered her telling him Zamani was dead; had she killed him? That would constitute “not good,” right? “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I was sure that C.I. I just told you about had sent Zamani to us. I went to him and asked what he knew about what Zamani was planning next. He wasn’t very cooperative. So, I…I grabbed a pen and used it to punch a hole in his carotid, and threatened to let him die right there unless he told me what he knew,” she finished the story quickly, her eyes fixed on him intently, sharp as though she was watching for something. This time, it was clear to Jacob what she was looking for; she was trying to gauge his reaction.

Tom Keen would be terrified by the revelation, but that was the last thing Liz needed right now. Jacob had known for a long time what she was capable of, and honestly…He was touched that she was willing to go so far off the reservation for him. If anything, he only loved her more. And a part of him…A part of him couldn’t help but hope that if she was willing to go that far off the deep end for him, she might not abhor the real him. He tried to silence that part of himself. Lizzie loving the real him was an impossible dream Jacob was not naïve enough to hope for. He was willing to settle for simply being close to her. She was still waiting for his response, so he found one that felt close enough to middle-ground.

“But…That can’t have been legal, right? I mean, didn’t you get in trouble?”

“Yeah. The Bureau was… _not happy._ I don’t regret it, though,” she said, her eyes still riveted to his. He could tell that she meant it, and he could practically _feel_ her nervous anticipation as she waited for his response. He paused a moment to find the words to reassure her without breaking character.

“Lizzie…I know you. You’re a _good person._ Whatever happened with this guy…It’s going to be okay. _We’re_ going to be okay…I love you.”

She nodded and said, “I love you too,” leaning into him again and resting her head on his shoulder. He wished he could see her expression. She was still upset, but he hoped he’d managed to help at least a little. They were making progress, and he had to believe they’d be okay. After all, that was “worth believing in.”

* * *

The next day, Jacob sorted through what he’d learned from Liz the night before. As impossible as it seemed, it sounded like _Reddington_ was working with the _F.B.I._ Jacob had never thought he’d see the day… _Of course,_ Reddington had sent Zamani after him. That was just like him.

Jacob’s eyes widened, and he almost burst out laughing as he realized that Lizzie had literally almost _murdered_ the Concierge of Crime. With a _pen._ He kind of wished she’d actually done it, but then, he _really_ didn’t want her getting arrested for murder.

It explained why her work had been so demanding lately. He thought back to the night before, when she’d broken down in his arms…and, for the first time, registered what had set her off. The movie. A very specific line in it, to be precise.

“Around my mom, all I hear is lies,” Walter had told his uncle, _“I don’t know what to believe…”_

Reddington wouldn’t have told her the truth, right? No, he wouldn’t want to reveal his own part in it all. But, if he’d found a way to sow suspicion…

It would explain why Lizzie had been acting so strange and distant. He remembered finding her looking into their trip to Boston. If she’d matched up the dates…

He remembered how she’d tried to gauge his reactions the night before, and cursed as he realized that he’d made a mistake by not freaking out. It had been a test, and he’d failed. He was torn between admiration for Lizzie and frustration with himself. She had confessed to coming within an inch of cold blooded murder and not even _regretting_ it, and his response had been to ask whether she’d gotten in trouble with the Bureau. _Idiot!_

He tried to remind himself that nothing was certain yet, but he couldn’t just dismiss his suspicions. He _needed_ to be certain about this. He tried to think of some hard evidence he could find to confirm or deny his speculation. His go-box. If Liz had found and tampered with that, he’d know she was investigating him.

* * *

A bullet was missing from his gun. That explained why she’d been looking into the Angel Station murder.

So, how did he fix this? A part of him wanted to tell her the truth, wanted to believe that she could accept him for who he was. “If you want to believe in something, then believe in it,” Hub had told the kid in the film. Jacob would like to think it was possible that Liz could find it in herself to believe in _him._

He knew he couldn’t do that, though. Even if there was the slightest chance she wouldn’t just arrest him on the spot, she’d never want to see him again, and he couldn’t let that happen. He needed to stay close to protect her.

So, how would he manage that?

He called Liz.

“You need to come home…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. In case it's unclear, this is when Jacob calls Liz in “The Courier,” pretending to be freaked out about the box.  
> 2\. "Secondhand Lions" is one of my favorite movies, and I thought it would be a perfect plot device for this story because one of its main themes is trust and faith.


End file.
